The governor has power to veto separate items of a money bill. The
judiciary is elective, and the term of office seven years. The State
requirements for citizenship are residence in the United States
one year, in the State four months, and in the election district
ten days preceding an election. Women are allowed to vote for
school officers and upon questions relating to the management of
schools, and are also eligible to such offices. No county can
contain more than 400 square miles. The legislature meets biennially.
Extra sessions may be called, but no session can exceed sixty days
in length. Under the last apportionment the State is entitled to
five representatives in the national Congress.
The annual valuation of property for 1882, as equalized by the State board, gives the personal property as $79,219,445, the real estate $242,938,170. This represents a total actual value of not far from $750,000,000.
While Minnesota was still a Territory, but after it had adopted a State constitution, an amendment was added to the constitution authorizing the issue of a large amount of bonds in aid of railway construction. Shortly afterwards, the companies having failed to fulfil their contracts and defaulted payment, the State foreclosed its mortgage on the lands, franchises, &c., of the roads, and turned them over to other companies. By another amendment to the constitution, the payment of the bonds was made contingent upon the result of a popular vote. Several proposals having failed to receive this sanction, the necessity for it was removed in 1881 by a decision of the supreme court, declaring the amendment unconstitutional. The legislature immediately met, accepted a plan of settlement proposed by the bondholders themselves, and over $4,000,000 worth of new bonds were issued in exchange for the old. For the payment of the principal and interest of these the people have voted (November 1882) to set aside as a sinking fund the proceeds of 500,000 acres of land belonging to the State internal improvement fund, the deficit to be paid out of the tax on railroad earnings. These bonds include all the State debt except about $200,000. A tax of 3 per cent. imposed on the gross earnings of all railroads within the State will soon meet all expenses except provision for educational, penal, and charitable institutions.
Population.—The population of the State was 6077 at the census of 1850, 172,023 in 1860, 439,706 in 1870, and 780,773 (419,149 males and 361,624 females) in 1880. According to the last census 299,800 whites had been born in the State; and of the 267,676 foreign-born inhabitants of the State 107,770 came from Scandinavian countries and 68,277 from the United Kingdom and the British colonies, while 77,505 acknowledge the German as their native tongue. The increase of population in the State for the last decade of years alone was 75 per cent. The most important cities are St Paul, the capital, and Minneapolis, with 41,473 and 46,887 inhabitants respectively in 1880; Winona had 10,208 and Stillwater 9055.
History.—Missionary efforts and the trading spirit first induced white men to venture as far into the unexplored north-west as the boundaries of what is now the State of Minnesota. The earliest accounts of its natural features and native tribes appear in the Jesuit writings. The “Relations” of 1670-71 allude to the Sioux or Dakotas. In 1678 a company was formed for trading with this tribe. Du Luth was leader of this expedition, and later on went from Lake Superior to the Mississippi by canoe. But the first published account is that of Louis Hennepin, a Recollect monk, who, in 1680, visited the falls of St Anthony, and gave them their name, from that of his patron saint. For a century the only visitants of the wild region were a few missionaries, and a number of fur traders who found the profit of the journey to more than counterbalance its perils and hardships. To the latter class belong Perrot, who reached the Mississippi by way of the Fox and Wisconsin in 1684, and founded at Lake Pepin the first trading post in the State, and Le Sueur, a Canadian, who ascended the great river from its mouth, and established another post above Lake Pepin. Captain John Carver, the explorer of the country of the upper Mississippi, visited the falls of St Anthony in 1766, being the first British traveller who reached the spot. On March 20, 1804, Upper Louisiana was organized, consisting of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and a large portion of Minnesota. From this time onwards the progress of exploration was rapid, and settlement followed in its train. The first really extensive exploration of any large part of what is now Minnesota was made between 1817 and 1823, by Major S. H. Long, of the United States engineer corps, in command of a Government expedition. About the same time the Red River received its first visitant. Thomas Douglas, earl of Selkirk, an Englishman of eccentric character, went, in 1817, to what is now Winnipeg, by way of York river. Having been struck with the agricultural possibilities of the region about the Red River of the North, he induced a colony of Swiss farmers to settle there. These were disappointed in the country, and unused to the severity of the climate, so that they finally removed to the vicinity of St Paul and contributed to the earliest development of the agricultural industry of the State. In 1821 Colonel Snelling built, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, a stronghold which he named Fort St Anthony. The name was changed to Fort Snelling in his honour, in 1824, and the fort is still an important post as a base of supplies for the newer north-west. The first steamboat made its appearance at the head of navigation in 1823. The settlement of St Paul, one of the oldest towns as well as the capital, is commonly dated from 1846, at which time there were a few shanties on its site. Population now began to arrive in constantly increasing numbers, and on March 3, 1849, a bill passed Congress for organizing the Territory. It was proposed at one time to name it Itasca, but the name Minnesota, meaning, “sky-tinted water,” and originally applied to the river bearing that title, was finally retained. The western boundary of the territory was fixed at the Missouri river. The population was but 4057, the largest town had but a few hundred inhabitants, and a large part of the soil of the State still belonged to the Indians. But progress now began in earnest. A constitution was adopted in 1857, and on May 11, 1858, Minnesota was admitted as a State, with a population, according to the last Territorial census, of 150,037.
One of the first acts of the new State was the issue of the railroad bonds noticed above. Soon after came the civil war. Within two months of Lincoln's first call for troops the first Minnesota regiment, over one thousand strong, was mustered into service. By August of 1862 ten regiments had been called for and furnished. In all, the State supplied to the armies of the Union 25,052 men, or about one-seventh of its entire population at the outbreak of the war.
In the meantime there occurred, in 1862, the horrible outbreak known as the Sioux massacre. Settlements were cut off, isolated settlers murdered, and even a strong post like Fort Ridgely was attacked. The outbreak spread over a large portion of the State; several severe engagements were fought; and it was not until the State had a thoroughly equipped military force ready for the campaign that the Indians begun to flee or to give themselves up. By this time over 700 persons had been murdered, 200, chiefly women, taken captive; eighteen counties were ravaged, and 30,000 people were homeless. The property loss was not less than $3,000,000.
During these local and national disturbances the material prosperity of the State was unabated. Notwithstanding the heavy cost of the civil war and the Sioux massacre, the census of 1865 showed a population of 250,099. Railroad construction began to be energetically carried forward; in 1870 329 miles were made and 1096 miles were in operation; a road to Lake Superior was completed, and the Northern Pacific was fairly under way. In 1873-76, and to some extent in 1877, successive visitations of locusts destroyed the crops of the south-western counties. The sufferers were relieved by the State, and no repetition of the scourge has since been experienced. (J. G. P.)
MINNOW (Leuciscus phoxinus or Phoxinus lævis) is the smallest British Cyprinoid, readily distinguished by its very small scales. It is abundant in rivers, brooks, and lakes, always swimming in schools, and shifting its ground in search of food, which consists of every kind of vegetable and animal substance. It ranges from southern Europe to Scandinavia, and from Ireland into north-eastern Asia; in the Alps it attains to a higher altitude than any other Cyprinoid, viz., to nearly 8000 feet. Its usual size varies between 2 and 3 inches; but in suitable localities, especially in Germany, it is known to reach a length of from 4 to 5 inches. The colours vary with age and season; a series of dark spots or cross-bands along the sides is always present, but the males assume in summer a nuptial dress of scarlet or purple on the lower parts of the head and body. The minnow is used as bait; it can also be introduced with facility and with great advantage into ponds in which there is otherwise a scarcity of food for more valuable fishes, such as trout, perch, and pike.
MINO DI GIOVANNI (1431–1486), called da Fiesole, was born at Poppi in the Casentino in 1431. He had property at Fiesole, whence his usual name. Vasari's account of him is very inaccurate and full of contradictions. Mino was a friend and fellow-worker both with D. da Settignano and Matteo Civitale, all three being about the same age. There is considerable similarity in their works, showing mutual influence. Mino's sculpture is remarkable for its gem-like finish and extreme delicacy of detail, as well as for its spirituality and strong devotional feeling. No other sculptor portrayed the virginal purity of the Madonna or the soft infant beauty of the Divine Child with greater tenderness and refinement. Of Mino's earlier works, the finest are in the duomo of Fiesole, the altarpiece